Monday, January 30, 2006

Online Dating Not Working? Consider This

In another recent poll conducted by the romance publisher Harlequin, out of 2,000 people surveyed, only 7 percent believe computer dating services work. In fact, most of them believe chance encounters--not online dating--are the way to go when it comes to meeting a mate (which is something that I basically said in a recent posting, so score one for good old Bobby. I knew there was a reason why I'm writing this blog on Boston.com). Accoring to Evan Mark Katz, who conducted the study, "I think the greatest advice (for meeting someone) is you have to put yourself out there in the world. We have a Hollywood fantasy view of how we like to meet the person we spend the rest of ourlives with. But for the most part it happens in the most mundane ways. So we should take advantage of the opportunities when they arrive by smiling at someone standing in line at the bank or asking for someone's number on the subway." The survey also revealed what most of already knew--there are significant differences between men and women when it comes to dating:

About 26 percent of men drink too much as a confidence booster before going out on a date, while only 15 percent of women get equally soused.

Men were were guilty of making out with someone without knowing their name 22 percent of the time compared to 6 percent for women.

Twice as many men (23 percent) as women said they have had sex on a first date.

So much for all those women who say looks don't matter. Slightly more females (43 percent) than men (38 percent) said they have indeed judged a person by their appearance on a first encounter.

The celebrity females topping the list of who respondents wanted to meet most for a cup of coffee: Martha Stewart, Eva Longoria, Condoleezza Rice, Jennifer Aniston and Angelina Jolie. As for the celebrity men respondents most desired encountering: Hugh Hefner, Kanye West, Partick Dempsey, and that hunka, hunka burnin' love himself, the Dalai Lama.